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The Walt Disney Company has agreed to invest $1bn into OpenAI as part of a deal in which the artificial intelligence start-up will use Disney characters in its flagship products.
As part of the three-year deal, announced on Thursday, Disney will make more than 200 Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars characters available within ChatGPT and Sora, OpenAI’s video-generation tool.
The company will also take a $1bn stake in the $500bn start-up, as well as warrants to purchase additional equity at a later date.
“The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence marks an important moment for our industry, and through this collaboration with OpenAI we will thoughtfully and responsibly extend the reach of our storytelling through generative AI,” said Disney chief executive Bob Iger.
The arrangement is the biggest to date between an AI company and a media group. OpenAI and rivals have faced lawsuits from multiple publishers over the use of proprietary data to train AI models.
The deal announced on Thursday does not allow OpenAI to use Disney’s intellectual property to train its model.
Disney shares were up 0.4 per cent in pre-market trading on Thursday following the announcement. The media company’s stock has fallen about 2.3 per cent so far in 2025 as of Wednesday’s closing bell, giving it a market capitalisation of almost $195bn.
This is a developing story
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